Friday, 23 January 2015

This is a very well-known song with a catchy chorus that people enjoy
singing. It is set in a rustic France
whose way of life was characterised by joie de vivre and in British eyes with a
lot of harmless naughtiness. Cat lovers
need consoling that it is only a made-up story.

Brave
Margot

Margoton
la jeune bergère

Trouvant
dans l'herbe un petit chat

Qui
venait de perdre sa mère

L'adopta

Elle
entrouvre sa collerette(1)

Et le
couche contre son sein

C'était tout
c' qu'elle avait, pauvrette,

Comm'
coussin

Le chat
la prenant pour sa mère

Se mit à
téter tout de go(2)

Émue,
Margot le laissa faire

Brav'
Margot

Un
croquant passant à la ronde(3)

Trouvant le
tableau(4) peu commun

S'en alla
le dire à tout l' monde

Et le
lendemain

(Chorus)

Quand
Margot dégrafait son corsage

Pour
donner la gougoutte(5) à son chat

Tous les
gars, tous les gars du village

Étaient
là, la la la la la la

Étaient
là, la la la la la

Et Margot
qu'était simple et très sage

Présumait
qu' c'était pour voir son chat

Qu'tous
les gars, qu'tous les gars du village

Étaient
là, la la la la la la

Étaient
là, la la la la la

L' maître
d'école et ses potaches

Le mair',
le bedeau, le bougnat(6)

Négligeaient
carrément leur tâche

Pour voir
ça

Le
facteur d'ordinair' si preste(7)

Pour voir
ça, ne distribuait plus

Les
lettres que personne au reste

N'aurait
lues

Pour voir
ça, Dieu le leur pardonne,

Les
enfants de chœur au milieu

Du saint
sacrifice(8) abandonnent

Le saint
lieu

Les
gendarmes, mêm' les gendarmes

Qui sont
par natur' si ballots(9)

Se
laissaient toucher par les charmes

Du joli
tableau

Chorus

Quand
Margot dégrafait son corsage

Pour
donner la gougoutte(3) à son chat

Tous les
gars, tous les gars du village

Étaient
là, la la la la la la

Étaient
là, la la la la la

Et Margot
qu'était simple et très sage

Présumait
qu' c'était pour voir son chat

Qu'tous
les gars, qu'tous les gars du village

Étaient
là, la la la la la la

Étaient
là, la la la la la

Mais les
autr’s femm’s de la commune

Privées
d’leurs époux, d’leurs galants,

Accumulèrent
la rancune

Patiemment…

Puis un
jour, ivres de colère(10),

Elles
s’armèrent de bâtons

Et,
farouches, elles immolèrent(11)

Le
chaton…

La
bergère, après bien des larmes

Pour
s’consoler prit un mari

Et ne
dévoila plus ses charmes

Que pour
lui…

Le temps
passa sur les mémoires,

On oublia
l’événement,

Seuls des
vieux racontent encore

À leurs
p’tits enfants…

(Chorus)

Quand
Margot dégrafait son corsage

Pour
donner la gougoutte(3) à son chat

Tous les
gars, tous les gars du village

Étaient
là, la la la la la la

Étaient
là, la la la la la

Et Margot
qu'était simple et très sage

Présumait
qu' c'était pour voir son chat

Qu'tous
les gars, qu'tous les gars du village

Étaient
là, la la la la la la

Étaient
là, la la la la la

(1954 –
(Les amoureux des bancs publics 2).

Kind-hearted
Margot

Li’l Margot
the young shepherdess

Finding in the
grass a small cat

Which had got
lost from his mother

Adopted him

She half opens
her dress collar

And lays him
up against her breast

It was all
that she’d got, poor girl,

For a pillow.

The cat,
thinking her his mother

Started to
suckle straight away

Thrilled,
Margot let him carry on

Kind Margot

An oafish man
walking around

Finding the
tableau unusual

Went to tell
everyone the tale

And the day
after

(Chorus)

When Margot
was undoing her blouse

To give her
cat its drop of milk

All of the
lads of the village,

Were out
there, la la la la la la

Were out
there, la la la la la

And Margot, a
simple, very good girl Presumed it was to see her cat

That all the
lads of the village,

Were there, la
la la la la la

Were there, la
la la la la

The school
teacher and his pupils

The mayor, the
beadle, the coalman

Flagrantly
neglected their work

To see this.

The postman,
normally so prompt

To see this,
stopped delivering

The mail that,
besides, no-body

Would have
read.

To see this,
may God forgive them,

The altar boys
right at the height

Of the Holy
Sacrifice sneak off

From God’s
house.

The gendarmes,
even the gendarmes,

Who are, by
nature, so cumbrous

Let themselves
be touched by the charms

O’the pretty
tableau.

(Chorus)

When Margot
was undoing her blouse

To give her
cat its drop of milk

All of the
lads of the village,

Were out
there, la la la la la la

Were out
there, la la la la la

And Margot, a simple,
very good girl Presumed it was to see her cat

That all the
lads of the village,

Were there, la
la la la la la

Were there, la
la la la la

But the other
women of the district

Deprived of
husbands or boyfriends,

Built up their
resentment

Patiently …

Then one day,
vicious with anger,

They armed
themselves with staves

And
ferociously slayed

The small cat
…

The
shepherdess, after much weeping,

So to console
herself, got wed

And ne’er
again revealed her charms

But for him …

Time passed
over the memories;

The happenings
were forgotten;

Just some old
men still tell the tale

To their
grandchildren …

(Chorus)

When Margot
was undoing her blouse

To give her
cat its drop of milk

All of the
lads of the village,

Were out
there, la la la la la la

Were out
there, la la la la la

And Margot, a
simple, very good girl Presumed it was to see her cat

That all the
lads of the village,

Were
there, la la la la la la

Were
there, la la la la la

Translation Notes

1)Collerette- Larousse tells us that
this is a little round collar, often pleated, made of fine linen

2)Le chat se
mit à téter tout de go. This fact gives us a problem. If the young shepherdess has milk in her
breasts, she must be a nursing mother and we find out later that she was not
then married. From this it would appear
that she is not so “sage” in the French sense ( not such a good girl) and
perhaps not so young.

On the other hand it is important for the poem that the shepherdess is
young and innocent. Perhaps the answer
is that Brassens is being very relaxed about human biology for the sake of his
tale.

4)Le tableau : We would normally
translate the word « tableau » as “picture” and this would be
acceptable here, but its meaning in
French is also “theatrical scene” and the French word is used in English. The dictionary defines “ tableau » in
English as: “anarrangementofpeoplewho do notmoveorspeak,especiallyon astage, whorepresentaviewoflife, anevent, etc.”.

5)Le bougnat – Larousse tells us that
this word refers to a coal merchant.

7)Preste – Robert translates this as
“nimble”. It describes speed of movement
and as an interjection “preste!” means “hurry up!” I suppose that is why British magicians say
“Hey presto!”

8)Au milieu du saint sacrifice – thus
at the climax of the mass.

9)Ballot : in correct speech this means parcel/
package. Robert says that this is a noun
in familiar speech meaning “nitwit”. The
basic idea seems to be heavy and plodding of movement. The idea of policemen
being like a parcel seems to link with the policeman image in the children’s
story, where he is “Mr Plod – the policeman”.

10)Ivres de colère – the most common
translation for « ivre » is drunk/ intoxicated but it also means in
the grip of extreme passions hence: ivre de joie= wild with joy, ivre de sang=
thirsting for blood.

11)Larousse tells us that immoler is to
offer an animal or a human being as a sacrifice/to put to death/massacre.